A 1st Member of Opus Dei Declared Venerable

Pope Francis on Wednesday received in audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorized the promulgation of the following decrees.

Among them is the recognition of the heroic virtue of Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, who was a classmate of Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. Zorzano was one of the first members of Opus Dei, and was instrumental in assisting Fr Escriva and others during the Spanish Civil War. He died of cancer at age 40.

—
MIRACLES, attributed to the intercession of:
Blessed Faustino Miguez, Spanish professed priest of the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (Escolapios), founder of the Congregation of the Calasanzian Sisters, Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess (1831-1925);
Venerable Servant of God Leopoldina Naudet, Italian founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family (1773-1834);

MARTYRDOM
Servants of God Mateo Casals, professed priest; Teófilo Casajús, professed scholastic; Fernando Saperas, professed religious; and 106 companions of the Congregation of Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, killed in hatred of the faith during the civil war in Spain between 1936 and 1937;

HEROIC VIRTUES
Servant of God Jean-Baptiste Fouque, French diocesan priest (1851-1926);
Servant of God Lorenzo of the Holy Spirit (né Egidio Marcelli), Italian professed religious of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (1874-1953);
Servant of God Maria Rafaela del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (néè Sebastiana Lladó y Sala), Spanish founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1814-1899);
Servant of God Clelia Merloni, Italian founder of the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1861-1930);
Servant of God Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, Spanish layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and of Opus Dei (1902-1943).